Tens of thousands of people took to streets over the weekend in cities across the globe to protest the Israeli assault on Gaza, and some of the protests have been organized by Jewish groups who are speaking out against Israel's actionsDorothy Zellner, a Jewish activist in New York, is one of fifteen
Jews who have signed a call for a protest in front of the Israeli
consulate Monday.
And Judy Rebick, the chair of Social Justice and Democracy at
Ryerson University, organized a sit-in comprised of Jewish Canadian
women at the Israeli consulate in Toronto.
"We decided to occupy the Israeli consulate. We knew we'd be
arrested, and that was, you know, the intention, that we draw
attention to the fact that this assault on Gaza is something so
terrible that we're willing to put our reputations and our lives—and
our freedom on the line. And a number of us are fairly prominent in
Canada. Most of the women there had never been arrested before. So
it was something fairly dramatic, and it got a lot of coverage,"
said Rebick.
"Israel doesn't listen to world public opinion at all, as long as
they have the support of the American government, but I think the
fact that more and more Jews are speaking out against Israel may
just have an impact. And I know that we've been getting emails and
calls from all over the world asking us what we did, how we did it,
and people feeling encouraged, because if you're, you know, engaged
in the Jewish community, it's very difficult to speak out against
Israel. And so, one of the things we did was appeal to other Jews,
who we know disagree with what Israel is doing, to speak out,"
Rebick added.
In the City of New York, several Jews got together and issued a call
to demonstrate.
"We're heartsick in two respects: we're paying for it, and they
supposedly are doing it for us. And we are not going to let them do
it for us without saying no, an immediate ceasefire, immediate
stopping the attack on Gaza, and then, ultimately, get to the root
of the problem, which is the occupation," said Zellner.
"We as Jews have to say to this country that claims to represent
us, 'Stop. Stop. This is a humanitarian disaster'," added Zellner.
But these brave women are taking the most the most powerful lobbies
for Israel in the US, including the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC).
"I think there are thousands and thousands of Jews in the United
States who are sick and fed up," said Zellner.
"The public will see that these organizations don't represent all
Jews. That's my view. I mean, they're a solid pro-Israel lobby. And
up until now, they've silenced—managed to silence and marginalize
Jewish voices who disagree with them. And I think by organizing
these visible protests of Jews, what we're saying is they don't
speak—these organizations don't speak for us, and there's a
diversity of opinion in the Jewish community on the issue of Israel
and especially what Israel's doing right now," said Rebick.
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